Songs Before Sunrise
by Nagia
Summary: Yuffie Kisaragi and the life of a ninja. Ten-songs meme. Some Burnt Offerings universe, some AWTDC universe.


**Songs Before Sunrise  
**

* * *

_1. Yoko Kanno - Farewell Blues_

There isn't any rain at Shalua's funeral. That's the thing that hits her the hardest: Shalua's eyes are closed, but the sun's eyes are open; Yuffie is staring into a cornflower blue sky that hurts like a sword.

And Shelke's eyes are dry as the sky. Yuffie stands in front of Shalua's open casket and notices that, too, and doesn't say anything about it, pretends she doesn't notice. It's not like tears are trickling down her cheeks, either, but that's not because she doesn't feel anything. It's because she's a professional.

Yuffie puts some steel in her spine, keeps her head uplifted. She will not break down like she did when she lost Aerith, even if this hurts almost as much. She will not hold Tifa and sob as Cloud pushes what's left of her down into the--

Damn this dryness, she thinks up at that implacable blue sky, Leviathan, water-god, brotherfather, where are you?

* * *

_2. The Seatbelts - Odd Ones_

Jazz music isn't Yuffie's thing, but she can't help but smile at the street player. He's got a sax and he knows how to use it. The case at his feet is full of bills.

She sways in time and smiles at him, clapping her hands as he smiles around the mouthpiece at her.

Even Tifa is smiling and snapping in time, nodding appreciatively. Barret looks stoic, but Yuffie can see the corner of his lip twitching. And of course Aerith indulges her girlish side, pulling Yuffie in close to whisper that he's flirting and she should flirt back.

It's things like this that make her love Costa Del Sol. Yuffie Kisaragi watches lovestruck couples dance through the sunny, lazy afternoon.

Of course, when she looks over at Vincent, who is looking dourly at them like having fun is some sort of sin, it's all ruined. But then again, that's the price they pay for keeping Vincent around.

Yuffie doesn't flirt with the saxophone player, even if she should.

* * *

_3. Dar Williams - Mercy of the Fallen_

The truth about Yuffie Kisaragi is this: even if she's not a coward, and she isn't, sometimes she runs. She might be resting now, but somewhere else, she is streaming across Wutai with stolen materia in her belt, she is flitting through the ruins of Midgar, she is running up a steel girder with her heart in her teeth and her shuriken in her hand. She is chasing the stench of Sephiroth through the Northern Crater, she is running in place in Gaia's cliff, she is dancing in place as she fights with Rosso the Crimson, she is inching her way along the cliffs of Da Chao-statue and hoping she lives.

And sometimes someone catches her. She might be brushing her teeth right now, she might be on her way to the thing she calls work and Reeve calls life, but somewhere, someone else is chasing after the thief who betrayed him, is backing up the only one who can disable the Reactors, is following her through the Crater and running alongside the girder and sleeping, helpless and bleeding but still there, through her encounter with Rosso.

And he's working his way up Da Chao, too.

* * *

_4. Tori Amos - Original Sinsuality_

They are falling and flying amidst antsy ink shadowpeople and little caped spellcasters and there are teartracks on Yuffie's face. The Vincent who was watches her, reaches out his hands to cup her face; the Vincent who is holds her as she screams because she loves her home and they will not save it, they will die here.

But they will die together. They won't die alone.

He's long run out of bullets and he's remembering fierce frantic kisses that don't really mean anything, because what else are you going to do when the world is ending and you're nineteen years old and you've never been kissed, especially not by a monster? Her blod stains his fingers, echoes of her smile rend his heart. He remembers the river's laughter and the ocean's heartbeat, the feel of her pulse beneath his mouth.

He is dying and she is dead but he is not alone.

* * *

_5. Suede - She's in Fashion_

"Have you seen it?" Cid's voice is gruff.

Vincent tilts his head and allows a faint noise to escape him. It's a sound of curiosity, almost a verbal quesiton mark.

Cid sighs and re-settles in his chair. "I want the Cerberus on the coffee table, cause you ain't gonna like this."

Her face, wearing the teasing, inquisitive expression that heretofore she'd reserved for him, is the first thing he notices. It's only later that he notices that she's not wearing much more than a green bathing suit and there's writing all on the sides.

She looks so unlike herself, so posed and controlled, that he almost doesn't recognize her.

And Cid was right: he doesn't like it. He doesn't like it one bit.

* * *

_6. Uematsu Nobuo - A Sacrifice_

There is only one thing Yuffie bends her knee and bows her head to: the needs of her country. It's the one thing she'd do anything for, and there times it's a harsh and exacting task master.

(The theft started with one stray materia, one glittering summon gem hidden beneath the curve of her palm.)

Now, today, at the top of the mountain, she bows her head against the sun. Closing her eyes does not let her escape it. And winding somewhere up those cliffs are the people she stole from.

(Her theft started with one stray mistake: she didn't take her opponent seriously enough, and now she's in his clutches, now her breath comes heavily out of fear she's trying so hard to hide.)

Mistakes.

She'll never make this one again.

* * *

_7. Oingo Boingo - The Walrus (Beatles Cover)_

Vincent can only watch as she cackles and sings the lyrics _a capella_. This was not the reaction he expected. He expected her to mock him, and he's sure she will, but mostly she's just digging through the cassettes and is smiling at him.

"This one was always my favorite," she says, showing him a tape.

He isn't sure if he's supposed to smile back or stare impassively.

"It seems there is an advantage to remembering one's former home," he says, distantly.

"You totally saw them on tour, didn't you?"

"I might have," he allows. "Although they never toured here."

It was one of the last things he did before he joined the Turks, in fact, but he would rather cut off his only remaining hand than tell her so. She doesn't need to know that she is digging her fingers into old, half-cherished memoriess.

He doesn't want her reverence.

* * *

_8. Led Zeppelin - Kashmire_

Yuffie let herself into the apartment through the window. It wasn't exactly difficult; she even managed to be soundless.

In fact, she made it eight steps into the apartment before its occupant whirled into view, Cerberus in hand.

"Hey, Vince," she said, grinned at him.

He gave her that dour _The princess is unamused_ look and she just laughed. That didn't seem to make any sense to him, so he ignored it. "I assume you have a reason for coming here?"

"So, I guess Cid told you about that whole magazine thing, right?"

Vincent didn't respond.

"I just wanted to explain. He told me you were mad at me, and that's no fair." She gave him her most convincing pout.

He didn't buy it.

"Look, I did it for Wutai. Since this whole DG thing, the WRO and AVALANCHE have started getting more and more notice, and Wutai... Wutai needs the business."

"I find it interesting," he said, voice terribly, terribly mild and toneless, "that everything you do, you do for a city. Do you do nothing at all because you simply want to?"

She found herself inexplicably hurt by that one. Her pride stung and she wasn't sure why, wasn't sure what he was implying. Was he saying that she was just masking her selfishness in concern for Wutai, because that wasn't true, it _wasn't_.

Especially not about this.

"Look, I agreed to do a few vanity shots and answer a few questions, in exchange for them running all of Wutai's new "come see us" ads. So one of them was naked, _so what_!"

He merely twitched his lips, but his eyes were still bitter. "Then this isn't about the fame, about the exhibition? Are you certain of that, Kisaragi Yuffie, Champion of Wutai?" His tones went painfully soft.

As the tears stung her eyes, she made a rude gesture and somersaulted for the window, jerking herself out of it.

The rooftops were mostly silent on her way home.

* * *

_9. VNV NATION - Genesis (Single Version)_

The sunrise over Pride Rock is gorgeous. She's never seen a landscape like this one, red-gold-purple sunlight playing over glimmering green and sun-burnt earth and glimmering water.

(only she has, and she misses without knowing the sunlight of green tile and red paint and a sparkling, swimming river, delicate bridges and fluttering banners, the golden skin of her people far, far beneath her)

Yuffie looks over at Vincent, who is cleaning and oiling the Capital Punishment, and then looks back out over the landscape.

"I can see why Simba likes this spot," she admits.

Vincent stands and looks with her. "Mm," he agrees.

She looks over at him, feeling a sly smile coming on, and reaches out for him. Her left hand entangles with his right and he startles.

They are silent for a few moments, watching the sun rise over the Pridelands.

"I am... glad... that I am here to watch this with you," he says at length, perhaps because he feels he has to, though Vincent is just as stubborn as she is.

It's too close to Feelings talk for her to tell him she agrees, but she does.

* * *

_10. The Orichalcon - Via (OC REMIX)_

I want to be worthy.

Falling. That's the sensation that just won't stop; it's like flying, it's like running forward with her eyes closed, only she's walking on air. She feels sick, half with fear and half with just plain motion sickness. The air is spinning her a little and she's going too fast, too, too fast.

The kimono flutters up, almost blocking her view. There's no time to push at it; she can still see the First Face, and she's watching all the other faces, as well, watching Da Chao slip by.

This is the stupidest thing she's ever done, but if it works, if she survives by some miracle, then maybe it'll pay off.

She closes her eyes, unable to bear looking at the golden brown dirt that's streaking by her, at the carvings on the stone that have become a blur.

And then a pair of arms folds itself around her. Talons bite into the kimono, tear through the silk. She doesn't care. She wraps her arms around Vincent's neck.

He's not Vincent right now, but he's not Chaos, either. His eyes glow.

They're close, now, close to the ground. Those enormous wings spread, beat at the ground, slow the fall. Yuffie closes her eyes again, feels blood trickle down her arms.

When the wings retreat, he doesn't let go.


End file.
